Lettering guide

ABSTRACT

A LETTERING GUIDE HAVING AN ELONGATE FRAME CONTAINING A LONGITUDINAL LETTERING SLOT, AND A PLURALITY OF STENCIL AND SPACER PLATES TO BE SELECTIVELY POSITIONED IN SIDE BY SIDE RELATION ALONG THE SLOT AND ADJUSTABLE TO ANY POSITION ALONG THE SLOT SO AS TO FORM SELECTED WORDS OR NUMBERS.

June 15, 1971 P. D. BOOTH 3,584,385

LETTERING GUIDE Filed May 26, 1969 m/uew TOR PAUL D. 50071/ ATTORNEY United States Patent O 3,584,385 LETTERING GUIDE Paul D. Booth, 743 E. Ada Ave., Glendora, Calif. 91740 Filed May 26, 1969, Ser. No. 827,710 Int. Cl. B411 13/02 US. Cl. 33174B 3 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A lettering guide having an elongate frame containing a longitudinal lettering slot, and a plurality of stencil and spacer plates to be selectively positioned in side by side relation along the slot and adjustable to any position along the slot so as to form selected words or numbers.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Field of the invention This invention relates generally to drafting aids and more particularly to a novel lettering guide.

Prior art One of the more tedious, precise, and time-consuming tasks performed by draftsmen, artists, and persons engaged in other similar fields of endeavor involves the placement of uniformly sized characters, such as letters and numbers, on drawings and other graphic illustrations. A variety of lettering guides have been devised to simplify and aid this task. Representative of the existing lettering guides are those disclosed in the prior art Pat. Nos. 2,298,635 and 3,381,384. While these existing lettering guides are useful to a degree, they possess certain disadvantages which the present invention overcomes. Foremost among these disadvantages are the complexity and relatively high cost of the existing guides, the difiiculties involved in replacing and adjusting the locations of the character defining elements of the guides to permit the formation of various words or numbers, and the inability of the lettering guides to be adjusted to accommodate the formation of characters of various size,

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention provides an improved lettering guide which avoids the above noted and other disadvantages of the existing lettering guides. The present improved lettering guide is characterized by a frame including a pair of laterally spaced frame bars defining an intervening lettering slot, and a plurality of stencil and spacer plates which may be selectively positioned in side by side relation along the slot so as to form any desired word or group of words or numbers. The inner confronting edges of the frame bars are grooved to slidably receive the stencil and spacer plates, thus to permit adjustment of these plates to any desired position along the lettering slot. One or more access openings are provided to the frame bar grooves through which the plates may be inserted into and removed from the grooves. The stencil and spacer plates have a thickness somewhat less than the thickness of the frame bars, such that when the plates are mounted on the frame, the frame bars project below the undersurfaces of the plates. As a consequence, when the lettering guide is placed on a drawing surface to be lettered, the undersurfaces of the stencil and spacer plates are spaced from the drawing surface so as to avoid smearing of this surface.

The present lettering guide embodies various additional innate features. According to one of these features, the frame bars are laterally adjustable to vary the width of the lettering slot so as to condition the frame of the 3,584,385 Patented June 15, 1971 lettering guide to receive stencil and spacer plates of various size. This feature permits the lettering guide to be used to form characters of various size. According to another feature of the invention, the lettering guide is equipped wih one or more bridge members which fit within the grooves in the frame bars for slidable adjustment along the lettering slot. These bridge members are equipped with friction means, such as springs, 'which bear against the frame bars to frictionally retain the bridge members in fixed position. The bridge members are useful in retaining the stencil and spacer plates in fixed position along the lettering slot.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a lettering guide according to the invention;

FIG. 2 is an enlarged left-hand end view of the lettering guide;

FIG. 3 is an enlarged right-hand end view of the lettering guide;

FIG. 4 is an enlarged section taken on line 44 in FIG. 1;

FIG. 5 illustrates different stencil plates for use in the lettering guide;

FIG. 6 is an enlarged fragmentary plan view of a modified, adjustable lettering guide according to the invention;

FIG. 7 is a section taken on line 77 in FIG. 6;

FIG. 8 is an edge view of the modified lettering guide looking in the direction of the arrows on line 87 in FIG. 7;

FIG. 9 is a perspective view of a bridge member for use in the present lettering guide; and

FIG. 10 is an enlarged fragmentary perspective view of one end of :a further modified let-tering guide according to the invention.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Turning first to FIGS. 1 through 4 of these drawings, there is illustrated a lettering guide 10 according to the invention. This guide includes a frame 12 containing a longitudinal lettering slot 14, and a plurality of stencil plates 16 and spacer plates 18 to be selectively mounted on the frame in side by side relation along the slot 14. In the particular inventive embodiment under consideration, the frame 12 is a unitary frame structure which may be molded in one piece from plastic or otherwise fabricated. The frame includes a pair of parallel frame bars 20, 22 which are laterally spaced to define therebetween the lettering slot 14 and are permanently joined at their ends by cross members 24 and 26. Along the inner confronting edges of the frame 'bars 20, 22 are grooves 28 which open inwardly to the lettering slot 14. As may be best observed in FIG. 3, the stencil plates 16 and spacer plates 18 have opposite edges which engage within the frame bar grooves 28. These plate edges are sized to fit slidably within the grooves, thus to permit slidable adjustment of the plates along the lettering slot 14. If desired, the plates 16, 18 may be of uniform thickness. Preferably, however, these plates are stepped, as shown in FIG. 3, to provide the central portions of the plates, i.e., the plate portions which extend across the lettering slot 14, with increased thickness. A feature of the invention resides in the fact that the stencil plates 16 and spacer plates 18 have a thickness which is substantially less than the thickness of the frame 12, such that the frame bars 20, 22 project below the undersurfaces of the plates when the latter are positioned within the frame, as shown in FIG. 3. As a consequence, when the lettering guide is placed upon the surface of a drawing to be lettered, the undersurfaces of the stencil and spacer plates are spaced from the drawing surface so as to avoid smearing of this surface, particularly when ink is used in lettering.

According to another feature of the invention, the lettering guide frame 12 is provided with access openings through which the stencil plates 16 and spacer plates 18 may be inserted into and removed from the frame grooves 28. The particular embodiment of the invention selected for illustration in FIGS. 1 through 4 is equipped with two access openings for this purpose. One of these access openings is defined by a lateral cut-out or notch 30 in the frame bar 22 which opens laterally to its groove 28. This notch is located midway between the ends of the lettering slot 14. The slot permits a selected stencil plate 16 or spacer plate 18 to be removed from the frame 12 by first sliding the plate along the frame to a position directly below the notch, as illustrated in solid line in FIG. 4. One end of the plate is then rotated upwardly through the notch to the broken line position of FIG. 4. Thereafter, the plate is moved edgewise to disengage the opposite end of the plate from the groove 28 in the frame bar 20. It will be understood that a stencil plate 16 or spacer plate 18 may be inserted into the frame grooves 28 by reversing this procedure.

Referring to FIG. 1, it will be observed that the frame bar grooves 28 open through one end of the lettering guide frame 12 to form a second access opening 32 through which the stencil plates 16 and spacer plates 18 may be inserted into and removed from the frame. The opposite ends of the grooves are closed by the frame cross member 24, as shown in FIG. 2.

Reference is now made to FIGS. 6 through 8 illustrating and adjustable lettering guide 10a according to the invention. This adjustable lettering guide is generally similar to the lettering guide 10 of FIG. 1 except that the longitudinal frame bars a and 22a of the lettering guide 10a and laterally adjustable toward and away from one another. The modified lettering guide is thereby adapted to receive stencil and spacer plates 16, 18 of various sizes. It will be immediately evident to those versed in the art that the lettering guide frame bars 20a, 22a may be laterally adjustable in various ways. In the particular embodiment of the invention selected for illustration, the end cross members of the lettering guide frame 12a (only one cross member 24a shown) are integrally joined to the longitudinal frame bar 20a. The ends of the remaining longitudinal frame bar 22a are adjustably secured to the cross members by releasable adjustable connecting means 34a. In this instance, the connecting means comprise threaded studs 36a which are fixed in and project above the ends of the frame bar 22a for selective insertion in holes 38a in the frame cross members. The studs 36a are longitudinally dimensioned to extend above the cross members for receiving knurled nuts 40a. Referring to FIG. 7, it will be observed that the frame cross members and the ends of the adjustable frame bar 22a are reduced in thickness to overlap or interfit with an overall thickness equal to that of the lettering guide frame. The modified lettering guide 10a is otherwise similar to the lettering guide 10 described earlier.

It is now evident that the modified lettering guide 10a is adjustable in width to receive stencil and spacer plates 16, 18 of different sizes. In this regard, of course, it will be understood that the stencil plates are made in different sizes to permit their use in forming characters of different size. Width adjustment of the lettering guide 10A is accomplished by removing the knurled nuts 40a from the threaded studs 36a on the adjustable frame bar 220, separating this frame bar from the cross members of the lettering guide frame 12a, inserting the studs into a new set of holes 38a in the cross members, and replacing the nuts on the studs.

FIG. 9 illustrates a locking or restraining member or bridge which may be utilized in a lettering guide according to the invention for frictionally retaining the stencil plates 16 in fixed position in the guide. The bridge 18b comprises a plate 42b of the same size as the stencil plates 16 or spacer plates 18, such that the bridge may be inserted into the lettering guide frame, in the same manner as the stencil plates. Secured to the normally underside of the bridge plate 42b is a spring bracket 44b along one longitudinal edge of which is a depending flange 46b. Integrally joined to the ends of this flange and projecting laterally across the underside of the bridge plate 42b are arcuate spring arms 48b. When the bridge is installed in the lettering guide 10 or 10a, the ends of the bridge plate 42b engage in the stencil plate receiving grooves in the guide. The curved spring arms 48b bear frictionally against the inner edges of the longitudinal frame bars to frictionally retain the bridge against movement along the frame bars. Thus, the restraining bridge 18b may be placed in contact with a stencil plate 16 in the lettering guide to restrain the plate against movement in one longitudinal direction along the guide.

FIG. 10 illustrates a slightly modified lettering guide according to the invention equipped with an adjustable restraining member 500 for reinforcing the longitudinal frame bars 20c, 220 of the lettering guide against outward lateral deflection. The restraining member 50c has a flat bar 52 which extends across the upper surfaces of the longitudinal frame bars 200, 22c and terminates in downwardly and inwardly turned ends defining lips or flanges 54c for engaging in longitudinal slots or grooves 560 along the outer surfaces of the longitudinal frame bars. It is evident that the restraining member 50c may be adjusted to any position along the frame bars for reinforcing the latter against outward lateral deflection.

What is claimed is:

1. A lettering guide comprising:

a frame including a pair of separate parallel laterally spaced bars defining an intervening lettering slot, and generally U-shaped restraining members straddling and joining said bars and adjustable lengthwise of said bars,

said bars having laterally spaced longitudinal shoulders along their confronting inner edges defining intervening grooves extending along said edges,

a plurality of rectangular stencil and spacer plates to be selectively positioned on said frame in side by side relation along said slot with two opposite longitudinal edges of each plate engaging within said frame bar grooves,

said plate edges being sized to fit slidably within said grooves, whereby said plates may be moved lengthwise of said frame to any selected position along said slot, and

one frame bar having in its upper edge shoulder a slot opening to the respective bar edge groove through which said plates may be inserted into and removed from said groves.

2. A lettering guide according to claim 1 wherein:

said frame bars have grooves in their outer longitudinal edges, and

said restraining members extend laterally across the normally upper surfaces of said frame bars and terminate at their ends in downwardly and inwardly directed flanges which slidably engage within the outer grooves of said frame bars.

3. A lettering guide comprising:

a frame including a pair of parallel laterally spaced bars defining an intervening lettering slot,

said bars having laterally spaced longitudinal shoulders along their confronting inner edges defining intervening grooves extending along said edges,

a plurality of rectangular stencil and spacer plates to be selectively positioned on said frame in side by side relation along said slot with two opposite longitudinal edges of each plate engagng within said frame bar grooves,

said plate edges being sized to fit slidably within said 6 grooves, whereb said plates may be moved length- References Cited y 0 Wise of said frame to any selected position along said UNITED STATES PATENTS slot, one frame bar having in its upper edge shoulder a slot 159 725 2/1875 Warren 101128 opening to the respective bar edge groove through 5 3,137,978 6/1964 Incantalupo 33 174(B) which said plates may be inserted into and removed FOREIGN A S from said grooves, and a locking bridge to be positioned within said lettering grance slot for restraining the stencil and spacer plates 888552 9/1943 5532 against movement along said slot, said bridge com- 10 prising a plate having opposite edges slidably en- HARRY N HAROIAN Primary Examiner gaging Within said frame bar grooves, and arcuate leaf springs secured on edge to one side of said Us Cl XR.

bridge and bearing against said frame bar edges to 101 128 yieldably resist movement of said bridge along said 15 slot. 

